Daunted by all the languages in SA? Learn to say hello in all 11

If you’re looking forward to being immersed in South African culture, but are feeling slightly daunted by the 11 official languages, then the new Hello South Africa phrasebook will be right up your street.

Launched earlier this month by Hello South Africa Publishing, this comprehensive, pocket sized book has over 600 phrases in all the official South African languages.  It also has a pronunciation guide for each language and easy-to-pronounce pseudo-phonetics below each phrase.

The colour coded index, photographs and travel tips are ideal for visitors who are just here for a couple of days and want to grasp the basics.

If you are a volunteer for the World Cup or are here for a longer visit, then delve a little deeper into the phrasebook and enjoy reading up on the history and culture surrounding the 11 languages.   There are also language distribution maps which highlight where the various languages are predominantly spoken throughout South Africa.

If you are visiting Cape Town, check out the following articles for some practical tips and suggestions:

• Getting around Cape Town during the World Cup
• Food, glorious food!
• Accommodation

Tourism Radio for World Cup fans

Aerial view of Cape Town, Table Mountain and the new stadium

Visitors who will be travelling around the Western Cape during the 2010 FIFA World Cup in rental cars will be able to tune in to Tourism Radio, a station designed to inform and entertain them while en route.

After a full year of research 54 areas were identified as tourist hot spots, such as Cape Town’s City Bowl. Other surprising results included the towns of Riebeek Kasteel and Worcester.

The Victoria and Alfred Waterfront and Table Mountain are just a couple of the popular attractions found in and around the City Bowl. With highlights such as these, it’s not surprising that Tourism Radio’s users spend 8,42% of their time there.

The Atlantic Seaboard wasn’t far behind and bagged three of the top five positions. According to Tourism Radio’s statistics, tourists spent a lot of their time in Sea Point, Camps Bay and Hout Bay.Once a visitor opts to include Tourism Radio in their hired car – starting from R59 a day – they can tune into Tourism Radio on 91.4 FM to get cultural, historical and anecdotal information, as well as updates on nearby attractions and shows.

The station also airs entertaining and informative radio shows on topics like South African slang, local music and 20 questions a tourist would like to ask a South African.

This is a great way for visitors who have limited time to find the most interesting spots and get a real feel for Cape Town City and its surrounding attractions. Even those who are here to work during the World Cup such as the FIFA volunteers,  will be able to hire a car for a day or two and get to see the sites (with a virtual tour guide on board).

To find out more or to book your Tourism Radio device for the World Cup visit www.tourismradio.co.za

Speak Africa for the 2010 World Cup

According to SA Good News, Thabo Olivier, a South African linguistics expert, has developed multilingual mobile phone application software to break the language barrier for South Africans that don’t speak English.

The software program, named Amba-Afrika (“speak Africa” in Tshivenda), can currently translate all of South Africa’s 11 official languages into the other 10 languages. Olivier’s vision is to design a version for every country in Africa in a bid to ensure that “we are able to preserve even the smallest of languages and give these an entry into the digital domain”.

However with the 2010 Football World Cup just around the corner, Olivier is focusing his attention on developing a version of Amba-Afrika that will translate the languages of all the participating countries. This will be fantastic as  visitors will be able to chat to South Africans in their home languages.

Watch this space for updates on his progress.

Image source: experientia.com

With the 2010 World Cup draw done now is the time to plan your trip

The much anticipated 2010 World Cup Draw took place in Cape Town on Friday 4 December 2009. The Highstead Houses team was at the Long Street carnival to celebrate the draw and, if the festivities were a prelude to the tournament, then we are in for one gigantic month-long party in 2010.

Festivities on Long Street

With the draw over football fans can now talk logistics and plan their trip to South Africa. Booking flights and accommodation should be top of your priority list. The following matches will be played in Cape Town at the Cape Town Stadium:

Group Matches

Friday 11^th June 2010: Uruguay VS France kicks off at 8:30pm local time.

Monday 14^th June 2010: Italy VS Paraguay kicks off at 8:30pm local time.

Friday 18^th June 2010: England VS Algeria kicks off at 8:30pm local time.

Monday 21^st June 2010: Portugal VS Korea kicks off at 1:30pm local time.

Tuesday 24^th June 2010: Cameroon VS Netherlands kicks off at 1:30pm local time.

Round of 16

Tuesday 29^th June: Winner of Group H VS Runner up of Group G kicks off at 8:30pm local time.

Quarter Finals

Saturday 3 July 2010: Quarter Final 3 kicks off at 4:00pm local time.

Semi Finals

Tuesday 6^th July 2010: Semi Final 1 kicks off at 8:30pm local time.

A comprehensive match schedule in PDF format can be downloaded from the FIFA site by clicking here .

Cape Town is anticipated to be the most visited destination during the tournament. This means there will be a huge demand for accommodation in and around Cape Town. We suggest you book both your accommodation and your flights early to avoid disappointment. To secure an accommodation booking at Highstead Houses BOOK NOW.

Organic and eco-friendly SA wines

There has been a lot of hype around organic wines recently, and many of you may be wondering what all the fuss is about and whether it is actually any different from other wines.

Charles Lourens, founder of BottlePlatePillow, decided to get to the bottom of it all and set off, camera in hand, to chat to organic wine makers at a couple of the top estates in the Western Cape. Following on from this escapade, he put together a succinct and informative video clip all about eco-friendly wines, which you can watch on WineTube, a new addition to his successful winery search engine, BottlePlatePillow.

The clip will give you an understanding of what organic wine is, how it is produced and how you can get involved and do your bit to offset your carbon emissions and help to preserve our natural surrounds. Here is a sneaky peak at some of the highlights of the clip:

Still wondering whether organic wine is the ‘way to go’? Michelle du Preez from Bon Cap Estate and Jonathan Grieve from Avondale Estate have some insightful answers. In a nutshell, it is produced without any chemicals or pesticides, which enables the wineries to contribute to the sustainability of our environment (and means that it is healthier for us to drink too!).

Grieve also explains how simple and effective this process can be, for example Avondale has one hundred ducks roaming around their vineyards eating the snails as a natural and cost effective alternative to toxic snail bait.

Simon Back from Backsberg addresses another important aspect of ‘eco-friendly’ wines, explaining how Backsberg off sets all their carbon emissions, and explaining how consumers can get involved in the project too.

According to Tielman Roos, Mooiplaas Estate also wants to educate their visitors about their wines and the environment, and invite them to take a walk in the natural veldt before their wine tasting (pre-booking necessary). Commenting on this section of the clip, Charles Lourens says “I thoroughly enjoyed this part of my trip, the fauna and flora and the views from the nature reserve were spectacular.”

Visit www.bottleplatepillow.com to watch the clip. When planning your next visit to the winelands, remember to use the search engine on the site and stop in at a couple of estates producing organic wine.

About BottlePlatePillow

Charles Lourens created BottlePlatePillow to provide an easy-to-use online directory for wine tasting and sales, winery restaurants, accommodation and fun activities on offer on wine estates in South Africa. He has recently incorporated a video streaming section called WineTube where users can watch, upload and share wine clips.

One of the most appealing aspects of this innovative concept is that the entire website is 100% dedicated to wine and information about South African wineries, so users don’t need to wade through heaps of third party advertising to get the information they want.

Just now glossary

Here at the southern tip of Africa, we’ve evolved the English language somewhat. Sometimes it’s thanks to the influence of the other languages that we speak in South Africa, but sometimes it’s just weird. To help you navigate South African turn of phrase, we’ve compiled a short glossary.

Something we’ve missed? Got any questions? Add them to the comments and we’ll do our best to translate!

Biltong – like beef jerky only tastier. A snack made from marinaded meat (beef, venison, chicken even fish – see bokkoms) that is then dried and sliced.

Bokkoms – a dried fish snack found on the West Coast. An acquired taste.

Braai – like a barbeque, only made with wood The staple diet of many South Africans.

Ja – yes, from Afrikaans

Just now – a period of time meaning anytime from right this moment, to in a few hour’s time. Usage: “I’ll do it just now”.

Mahala – free

Robot – if someone refers to a robot when giving directions, don’t expect to see R2D2 standing on the side of the road … they are referring to traffic lights.

Traffic circle – called a roundabout in other countries.

Yebo – yes, from isiZulu.

Image source: stock.xchng